Collected self portraits

Here's a link to all the class portraits.

Hithergreen watercolor moving right along

The self-portrait project is pretty well finished now and most of the class is doing other things. There are a few who are doing portraits of other people, though, so we're seeing great improvement in these. Dennis had to miss several classes, but made up for it with his excellent likeness in his self portrait.

Jane tried a new twist in this one--a profile delineated with ink lines and tinted with watercolor. This has been a favorite technique of hers since we first tried it several months ago. I like her handling of the lines here.

Liz also missed classes, but painted this without a reference photo. The painting has a fresh and spontaneous look that I like.

I also did a brief demonstration on painting "glow," which you can see in a previous demonstration project on my Web site. However, I did the new demonstration wet-in-wet entirely.

4 more class self portraits

Just about all the self portraits are finished now. I had difficulty photographing these for some reason, but you can get the idea. Ron's self portrait is a fantastic likeness. (His caricature is below in an earlier post.) We matted off most of the blue area at the right and later decided it might be better with the blue, but I didn't think to shoot another photo.

Don is a relative beginner to art and watercolor, but he's always game to participate in the current challenge. He decided to do a caricature and did a good job. He actually captured his sense of humor, and the heavy eyebrows and full face are characteristics of his natural features.

Ely's self portrait is a combination of line and wash that is distinctive from all the other self portraits. It's very well done and is a good likeness. I like the high-key quality of the painting.

Pat glazed washes over one of her self-portrait drawings from the earlier lesson. There's some camera shake in the photo, but you can see the face is beautifully painted and very lifelike.

There may be one or two more yet to come, but we're also working on learning about watercolor paints.

More student self portraits

Eight of the students completed or revised their self portraits at home between classes or finished them today. The variety of styles and approaches to color is fascinating. This lesson has had a big impact on their ability to observe proportion and detail. Nancy's portrait here is a big improvement over her two shown in last week's blog. Her first attempt was flat and out of proportion, although it had some nice color areas. The second one was much better and had some dimension. This one is very nice, with lovely flesh tones.

Sylvia's self-portrait from a photograph is an excellent likeness. The eyes are very lifelike and beautifully painted. I also like the way she has handled her hair. Her photograph didn't show enough of the hair, so she used a different photo for that. The gray brushstrokes that define her hair are very nice. Her choices of color are pleasing, as well.

Suzanne's likeness is recognizable, if not exact. Her self portrait is nicely painted and suggests her lively personality and a twinkle in her eyes. Her hair could be developed a tiny bit more, with a slight shadow under the edge along her forehead, to give it more dimension. I like the contrast of the blues and greens with the flesh tones.

Patty was one of the brave souls who painted her self portrait using a hand mirror. This is a wonderful portrait on its own, even though it doesn't capture her sparkle and beauty. She said she didn't want to grin at the mirror, which accounts for her somber expression. Patty is excellent with children's faces in particular and had no problem with the proportions of the features.

Pat redid her portrait from last week and improved the features with more modeling and detail. In spite of the source material, which wasn't a very clear photo in the first place, she managed to do a better job this time. This does point up the importance of good reference material, though. An experienced portrait painter can "fill in the blanks," because she knows the structure of the face. For others, it's often guess work.

Maureen's self portrait is very colorful. She is bold with color and brushwork in this portrait based on a photograph. She was somewhat disappointed with the likeness, but artists often are, with their own self portraits. Everyone in the class admired this lively face.


Lynda is developing a spontaneous, expressionistic style that works well in her self portrait. The wild colors and flying brushwork are very exciting. She had problems with proportion in the lower half of the face and her eyes are somewhat enlarged, but that contributes to the expressiveness of the portrait. Working with a mirror, she discovered as others did who tried it, that it's difficult to capture proportions and likeness.

Linda's portrait of her husband from a photograph is well observed and painted. It's a good likeness and the eyes are done especially well. The colors that contrast the blue shirt with the warm tones of the rest of the picture make a harmonious portrait.

Fun weekend, winding down

The weekend wasn't what I had planned, but was even more fun. Jenna came over Friday afternoon for her sleepover and in the morning we baked sugar cookies from scratch. She was involved in the process from breaking the eggs to frosting the cut-out hearts we made. It took forever, but she was having a good time and we didn't have anything else we needed to do. The rest of the family came over later to pick her up and Daniel sported a new haircut. After they all left, I continued to play with Facebook. I won't be spending so much time there now that I have figured out how it works. It has really been great to hear from students and friends I haven't been in touch with for many years. Earlier in the week I worked on a self-portrait drawing, but I haven't had time to put any paint on it or on the one I started of Jenna. Maybe this coming week. Can't wait to see what my class has done with their self portraits this week.

Hithergreen self portraits in watercolor

Most of my students tried their hands at self portraits today. Some had never painted a portrait of any kind, let alone one of themselves. I managed to get quick shots of about half of their paintings. There will be more next week. Portraits can be intimidating, but they all did a good job, at their own skill levels.

This one is a creative take on a self portrait--not what she looks like, but what she does. Mary R. is a woodcarver.

Mary C.'s source was a photograph in which her head was slightly tilted upward. She decided to paint herself with a level gaze instead and did a good job of correcting for the change in the angle of the features. The pupils are a bit larger than necessary, but otherwise, the likeness is good. I like the way she drybrushed the dress. The skin tones are very nice, too.

Karen's contrast between translucent skin and dark hair is very effective here. The richness of the paint in the hair doesn't show here.Not to mention her gorgeous green eyes. She lifted a bit of the green she first applied, which let a little more light into her eyes. I love the free brushwork in the background. The blue and sienna colors look good behind her head.

Jane painted someone else's portrait instead of herself and did it well. She has good proportions in the head and face. I like the downward-looking pose. The bangs of the hair are beautifully painted with rich color and bold strokes. I also like the color of the skin and subtle shading. This might need a little more modeling on the neck.

Carol has a great sense of humor and is very creative. Her drawing at left is a mirror drawing that is very detailed. She had foreshortened the hat too much because of the angle of the mirror, but that is corrected here. On the right she painted her portrait in wild colors, starting with a lime green for the shadows.

Pat has a good start on her self portrait, considering that her source is a rather small picture that doesn't have good lighting on her features to show the planes of her face. It isn't finished yet, though, so she can still build up the shadow areas and bring out her features.

Pat photographed herself and put the images on her computer. Then, she painted her features from the computer screen in a monochromatic scheme, as a drawing instead of a painting. The likeness is very good.

Linda's self portrait was taken from a photograph she had taken in the 1970s. What a pretty girl! Now she's a pretty woman and you can see the resemblance. She did an excellent job with the proportions.

Tom's self portrait was probably the best likeness in the class. He really nailed his appearance and captured a lifelike image of himself. He began his painting before class with pale washes of ochre and in a short time had the image down. Then he enriched the washes and shadows and detailed the shirt to finish up. Good job on the glasses, too. Well done!

Nancy's first freehand attempt isn't a convincing portrait, but when she applied herself to measuring proportions, she did a great job. Her drawing for the second portrait is very good and I hope she'll paint that one, too, after having the practice with observation and painting techniques in the other two.

Ron painted his caricature with Picasso-like distortions that he created in Photoshop from a photograph using the "skew" command. As weird as it is, it actually resembles him--and he's a good-looking guy! I like the low-intensity colors he used in his clothing. He's also doing a normal self portrait based on a drawing he made of himself.

Patsy's experience was interesting. She began her self portrait at home using a mirror. She attempted to finish her drawing in class with a small purse mirror. That was a challenge, but the real problem began when she tried to paint and discovered that the overhead lights in the classroom didn't show the facial planes. She will work on it at home with better lighting. The likeness isn't there yet, but it's coming.

How about a round of applause for Hithergreen Center's Exploring Watercolor Class?